More Worktime Fun

In the previous post, I mentioned that the big trip with Ben kind of marked the beginning of the end as far as my stay in Japan is concerned. I have mentioned before that by the end of April of 2008 I will pretty much be done with Japan and back in the United States. I kind of moved up my timetable a bit.

Thanks to my boss deciding I "needed a change", in October I will be losing my classes in my town and am being forced to go to another place about half an hour away by train followed up by a half an hour walk to the class. Why is my boss moving me? Because he decided that the new person that will soon be coming to Fukuchiyama needed an easier schedule.

A couple of weeks ago, this topic was brought up and I told him that I would not appreciate losing any of my classes past the one I am already giving up in order to start a new classroom even further out in the middle of nowhere. Basically, the trade was made because there was no way I was going to have two weeks filled with three hours worth of trains each day. At the time, he mentioned me possibly having to give up my Fukuchiyama classroom and that every week would involve train commutes for me instead of having one easy week a month in which I just rode my bike to class. I told him that, while I wasn't fond of 95% of the kids in the Fukuchiyama classroom, I saw the trade off being that I had an easy day as far as getting to and from work was concerned. I also mentioned the fact that I had been here for longer than all but one person in my group and that my seniority should play into my wants a tad. I have after all, been a pretty decent employee for the two years I have been here and since I don't get almost any office time, unlike my peers, and since none of us get raises, I would hope that I would at least have some say in where I teach seeing that I have been at all of my classes for almost two years now. At this point, it isn't even all about me anymore, what about these kids that have grown to know me and respond well to me and now they will get a new guy that if fresh off the boat and has no clue what I have been working toward for the past two years?

Anywho, yesterday my boss told me that he had finalized his decision to move me from my Fukuchiyama classroom and make me commute to a new class each month starting in October. I asked why not just wait until I leave in April and his reply was basically that is would be easier on him to do it now. Part of me says, "Okay, this is fine, I don't have to deal with the antics of my Fukuchiyama kids anymore and this new guy is going to be entering hell with the schedule and kids he is being given." The other part of me says, "Well, it is pretty obvious that my boss is only looking out for ways to make his life easier and neither he nor this company really care all that much about their employees or the kids that we are supposed to be teaching."

So after asking him if that was indeed his final decision and him saying that it was, I basically told him that I would be leaving when my contract ended in January and he could forget me staying until late-April. He got kind of upset when I told him this and said that he would be sorry to see me go and didn't want it to be this way but I told him that it wasn't just his decision on this one matter that made me change my mind, it was more of the last straw. He did sound concerned but I got the impression that it was more because he was afraid that my leaving was going to inconvenience him and not because he actually gave much of a damn about me.

Having decided this, I have to say that I feel pretty good. The light at the end of the tunnel just got a bit brighter and my hopes are buoyed by the fact that soon I may actually have a real teaching job in a place that appreciates their teachers a bit more than they do their wallets. I wouldn't mind leaving earlier but having signed a contract, agreeing that I will stay until January, I will do so and uphold my end of the deal. That and I don't mind getting a bonus either.

Also, it seems that this blog has picked up a couple of new readers within the past week so now I will take this opportunity to welcome the Mac users from Nagoya to my site. d(^_^)b